Labor MP excels at the cut and paste of world travel

Philip Dorling

THE federal Labor MP Craig Thomson took a $24,000 taxpayer-funded overseas study trip to Europe and the US; and then plagiarised much of his report to the Australian government and Parliament - presenting speeches by overseas officials and outdated Wikipedia articles as his own work.

A compilation of overseas travel reports tabled in Parliament on the authority of the Special Minister of State, Gary Gray, last month also concealed Mr Thomson's failure to submit his report within the 30-day deadline set by the rules that govern MPs' overseas travel. Mr Thomson's report was submitted more than four months late.

The Labor MP for the NSW electorate of Dobell spent at least $23,899 of his overseas travel entitlement on a 42-day tour, from March 26 to May 8, visiting Britain, Ireland, France, Spain and the US.

Mr Thomson subsequently sent Mr Gray a travel report titled The Global Financial Crisis - The European and US Experience - Lessons learnt and future expectations. More than two-thirds of the report's 33 pages, including most of its analysis and commentary, has been cut and pasted from internet sources.

Mr Thomson's discussion of US fiscal policy turns out to be the text of a speech given by John Lipsky, first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, to an American Economic Association conference in Denver, Colorado, on January 8. The text in Mr Thomson's report is unchanged, paragraph after paragraph, from Mr Lipsky's speech.

Mr Thomson's analysis of European Union financial reforms has been cut and pasted from a speech given by the European Commission member Michael Barnier in Vilnius, Lithuania, on September 8, four months after Mr Thomson returned to Australia. The Labor MP's text is identical to much of Mr Barnier's speech, apart from amendments to small portions of text that would otherwise indicate the author was actually a senior EU official.

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Much of Mr Thomson's discussion of economic conditions in Ireland and Spain has been taken

from Wikipedia articles including texts labelled "outdated" and needing "clean up to meet Wikipedia's quality standards''.

Mr Thomson also presented as his own work extracts and summaries from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reports on healthcare and housing finance, text from Bloomberg financial news service reports, and published commentary on US financial regulatory reforms. He also padded out his report by including without comment the extensive recommendations of the Independent Commission on Banking that reported to the British government in September.

The declared purpose of Mr Thomson's tour was to "go to some of the key euro-zone countries that were having economic difficulties following the global financial crisis and to access [sic] their prospects for recovery, issues that contributed to their economic position, and the implications for Australia."

Mr Thomson wrote that his trip "provided an invaluable insight into the economies of key countries in Europe and the US on a multifaceted basis with discussions occurring at national, state and local government levels, with industry and the finance sectors, central banks and labour unions".

However, while Mr Thomson's report lists meetings in London, Dublin, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona and New York, he makes only one direct reference to the content of any specific discussion.

The Federal Remuneration Tribunal rules governing parliamentarians' overseas study travel entitlements (equivalent to the value of a first class round-the-world fare each parliamentary term) require MPs and senators to submit a report to the Special Minister of State within 30 days after return to Australia.

Unlike other travel reports tabled in Parliament, Mr Thomson's report was not accompanied by a signed and dated letter of delivery. Instead it was published under cover of an unsigned, undated letter, even lacking Mr Thomson's parliamentary letterhead.

The Department of Finance and Deregulation advised yesterday that Mr Thomson's report was not received until October 20, more than five months after his return to Australia and over four months late.

Mr Thomson is under intense scrutiny with Victorian Police and Fair Work Australia investigating allegations of impropriety relating to his service as Health Services Union national secretary and misuse of his HSU credit card before his election to Parliament in November 2007.

When contacted by the Herald yesterday, Mr Thomson said he had "no idea" when he submitted his travel report. He declined to respond to questions about plagiarism and cutting and pasting from the internet, saying "it's not an academic exercise" and "my report speaks for itself".

In question time on August 16, the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, told Parliament: "I have complete confidence in the member for Dobell. I think he is doing a fine job representing the people of his constituency … I look forward to him continuing to do that job for a very long, long, long time to come."

Her office reaffirmed yesterday that "the Prime Minister stands by her previous statements" concerning Mr Thomson.